[Trombone-l] Conn 30H & 32H

[richard.bartkus@cox.net]

My father studied with Ernie Passoja in Chicago during the late forties and played a 1934 vintage 32H which I inherited several years ago.  

Mostly I use the horn for recording and video, mostly due to the sentimental value makes me too nervous to take it to most gigs.

I believe that in the 30's, 40's and even the 50's, bands were much quieter than they are today.  It is not uncommon at most jazz even combo gigs to mic every horn player.  Most of the photo's that I have seen from that era, there were no mics on the individual players or even the sections, just one mic for the singer(s).

When I had the good fortune to perform with Louie Bellson, I covered the 2nd trombone part which put me right next to the drummer.  A position that had previously motivated me to carry earplugs in my case to gigs just in case.  However, Louie played with incredible intensity and solid time throughout the groove and fills, but he played with a "true" mf volume that was amazing.  

There's a plethora of reasons that "live" performances have gotten louder, but that's not the point I want to make.  I think that when those advertisements for the Conn 30H and 32H were written, it was true.  How could they know that live music would rise to volume levels that would irrepairbly damage one's hearing ?  

Rick Bartkus



---- Fred Hudson <fmhudson at arkansas.net> wrote: 
> That's the "Small Burkle" model dual bore 0.494"  and 0.507". Interesting
> note from the Conn catalog, they were touted for LARGE groups. in the 1930's
> 
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~cderksen/Conn30H1940image.html
> 
> Fred H